Offering competitive remunerations is no longer sufficient for most employees. Rather, they are seeking organizations that foster an overall culture of wellness, with wholesale investments in their mental and physical health. Such holistic approaches to management often guarantee loyalty and satisfaction.
Accordingly, it is imperative to understand and revise (when needed) your hiring and retention strategies, understanding that your company’s growth depends on a happy and healthy workforce. Avoidance of a toxic work environment is paramount; employees wellbeing must always remain top of mind.
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Ways to Introduce Wellness Programs
As per The Future Workplace 2021 HR Sentiment, 68% of senior HR leaders rated employee mental health and well-being as a top priority. Establishing an amiable connection with your employees by organizing regular social activities provides a congenial environment in which they are able to work productively. This can prove more purposeful and fulfilling for them and boost their overall productivity. There are many cost-effective ways to introduce wellness programs:
Offer Wellbeing Resources
Make time to ask your employees what activities would prove fruitful to their growth and development. One way to go about this is to initiate gym memberships or on-site yoga classes. In reference to Gen Z, wearable tech and app-based wellness programs might be more conducive to participation. On the contrary, older employees would prefer resources along the lines of nutrition advice or regular health checks. These might include self-help tools, mental health awareness training, hiring on-site counselors, health insurance, and employee assistance programs.
Fitness Challenges
Mental well-being and physical fitness are commensurate with each other. It is essential to allow employees to engage in fitness activities developed around their working schedules. You could start by recruiting a yoga instructor and regulating weekly group yoga classes to help them unwind and relax. Furthermore, you can initiate fitness challenges which could include steps challenges or completing a set of daily workout routines with measured incentives. This will not only result in making them cognitively sharp but will also keep them physically healthy.
Host Wellbeing Events
Ongoing professional training can aid in cultivating an environment that is conducive for personal development and growth. Hosting events that include internal experts and professional trainers can be a great initiative and a show of meaningful investment in collective success. Additionally, such sessions will also serve as a bonding experience for the workforce. Paying for online courses or sending employees to digital conferences may provide them with an opportunity to broaden their networks and exhibit their capabilities to prominent individuals in the industry. Moreover, you might even hold a monthly virtual wellness event hosted by regional or national experts in their fields.
Implementing Flexible Work Hours
Irrespective of whether you have remote employees or on-site staff, providing them with flexible working hours is imperative. The Prudential Pulse of the American Worker Survey suggests that a quarter of workers are always on the lookout for new jobs with better working hours and work-life balance.
Jobs with flexible work policies and work-life balance cultivate healthier employees, improve productivity and their quality of life, and boost job satisfaction.
Emphasizing Personal Development
If your organization revolves around maintaining its employee’s professional development only, they might easily ignore their personal development which is equally important for their mental health.
To foster this development, you can schedule on-site seminars emphasizing the importance of personal growth and steps to initiate it. These often lead to employees discovering new avenues for personal and professional growth.
Training Managers to Support Employees Wellbeing
To bring about a positive change, it is crucial to educate and train managers about ways they might be able to support their direct reports. This is especially important in a crisis or any other distressing situation. Train them to follow proper protocol including carrying out a workplace investigation or otherwise schedule regular touch bases to maintain overall employee morale. At the same time, they must be educated to adopt an empathic approach when necessary, cultivating an open culture that allows employees to feel comfortable while seeking support and discussing mental health issues openly. Under the purview of company policy, managers will be able to extend the appropriate support to their team members and offer effective resolutions to issues as they arise.
Getting Employee Feedback
The most impactful way to provide a comfortable environment for your employees is to make them feel heard and appreciated. Conduct internal surveys to find out what your employees desire, or what changes they might advise. This feedback will give you better clarity into day-to-day business and inform your professional courses of action.
Conclusion
Employees wellbeing is a worthwhile investment, and often at little or no cost. Keeping an eye out for what other organizations are offering their employees might also advise how your organization should proceed. For example, you might take inspiration from a staffing agency in Pennsylvania and see what they are doing differently to recruit and retain employees.
It is imperative that businesses realize that their employees are their biggest asset and investing in their employees’ welfare now is the way to long-lasting business success in the future.
